Tuesday, February 21, 2012

End of the Rope

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

You have heard their stories. You have stood and listened for hours and hours to the words of desperation and complaint. You have probably even watched the finality take hold of another person. You even may have been the one getting near the end of your rope.

In either case, you have to hold on or be the one to help another tie a knot and hang on. We each have gone through bad times and had to endure varying degrees of pain or frustration. And I am not here to say that I have been through what you might be going through.

What I do know is that there is more strength inside of you. There is more possibility of getting through. There are others that believe in you. There are others that know you are capable of overcoming anything. All you need to do is hang onto that rope a little longer.

You may be asking yourself, "But I'm not at my rope's end. What can I do?"

The answer is quite simple. Be the knot at the end of the rope of someone's life. Be the one helping them hold on. You may not have the answers or any solutions for that person. But you can help them hang on until they get it figured out. It doesn't mean that you are a crutch for them to permanently lean upon.

And now I'm talking to the person grasping hold of the knot, the person helping them hold on. A knot in a rope eventually frays thin and will slip. So don't depend upon that knot to hold up your life forever. The knot is there for us to regain grasp of our life. It allows us to start that climb back up.

There will be times in our lives when we need someone to tie a knot for us. there will be times when we need to tie our own knot. Just keep hanging on, keep trying, keep believing.